PLEASE STOP CALLING MY HOME.I do not respond to rude und unprofessional people.

Since your office has not respond to my calls nor letter regarding Cingular issue, I believe your Inc. is not willing to solve the above problem.

Cingular business in Benicia gave me three different cell numbers. A mistake was made by a Cingular Consultant. I want to know what number Cingular is trying to collect $116.74 for.

PLEASE STOP CALLING MY HOME.I do not respond to rude und unprofessional people.

Thank you very much.

Anna Whitney

[quote=anna whitney]Since your office has not respond to my calls nor letter regarding Cingular issue, I believe your Inc. is not willing to solve the above problem.

Cingular business in Benicia gave me three different cell numbers. A mistake was made by a Cingular Consultant. I want to know what number Cingular is trying to collect $116.74 for.

PLEASE STOP CALLING MY HOME.I do not respond to rude und unprofessional people.

Thank you very much.

Anna Whitney[/quote]

Excuse me, i think that you are mistaken. As the heading of this thread indicates, this thread is a database of credit collectors. there is valuable information so that you can contact the creditors in order to address any issue that you have with them.

Writing a threatening letter on this website does not reach the company that you are angry with. try reading the first post again to see the contact information. try contacting them in order to address this problem. Don't attack us, we are only trying to help you get in contact with the creditors who are harassing you.

This company is fraudulant!!!!!!!!! Do not give them money. They are trying to collect from us for eBay in the amount of $115.13 and eBay says they have NEVER heard of them. No true company would harass or respond in this way!!!!! FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD!!!!!!!!! JAIL JAIL JAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[quote=benjaminz6][quote=anna whitney]Since your office has not respond to my calls nor letter regarding Cingular issue, I believe your Inc. is not willing to solve the above problem.

Cingular business in Benicia gave me three different cell numbers. A mistake was made by a Cingular Consultant. I want to know what number Cingular is trying to collect $116.74 for.

PLEASE STOP CALLING MY HOME.I do not respond to rude und unprofessional people.

Thank you very much.

Anna Whitney[/quote]

Excuse me, i think that you are mistaken. As the heading of this thread indicates, this thread is a database of credit collectors. there is valuable information so that you can contact the creditors in order to address any issue that you have with them.

Writing a threatening letter on this website does not reach the company that you are angry with. try reading the first post again to see the contact information. try contacting them in order to address this problem. Don't attack us, we are only trying to help you get in contact with the creditors who are harassing you.[/quote]

I do think this company is fraudulent. I got the exact same letter for a Kamenskiy Slava, who doesn't even live at my adress, asking for $70 as payment for some item. All items that I order off E-Bay are payed for.

I agree, these people are nasty. They sent me a fraudulent AT&T Wireless bill. You should not list them as a recovery company. You should remove them as a contact.

To stop them or any other agency from harassing you, simply write them a letter instructing them to contact you only mail and not by your phone number ____________. This is a lawful manner in which to deal with them. I agree they are usually very persistent and very rude. collection agencies have yet to learn that this method will never get them good results.

My friend sent me a copy of fdcpa Notice apparently from Bureau of Collection Recovery, Inc. 888-714-2342

The amount was for $36.04 to eBay, Inc.

My friend does not have an eBay account.

It's hard to believe that a legitimate company would send such a notice knowing that legal action can be taken against them.

It's easy to believe that a disgruntled person is sending the phony notices in an attempt to bring the company down.

I'm sending the copy to eBay.

Please contact me by mail only not by my phone number.
Thank you.

I received a letter from Bureau of Collection Recovery too and saying that I owe an eBay debt when I don't have an account through eBay, never went on eBay, nor I even know that eBay needs an account to access. I'm totally lost becuase that letter came out of nowhere. I only received it from the mail man, not even from my mailbox! The address printed on the letter is not even my address. I've never lived there before and it's under my name. When I called this company, they never responded to me and keeps on telling me that I'm only collecting the debts, don't ask me any other questions and just read the letter. The letter explains everything. I agree with what you're saying, this company is fraud! When I asked them to verify information for me to prove that this is my information, my debt, they have nothing to say, except "pay the bill, or read the letter". If they are professional collectors, they wouldn't be so irresponsible, and would try to verify information so that they can get their debts sooner!!! fraud company!

I got a letter from this debt collector too, and I don't understand how and why. Do any of you know how I can contact eBay for more information? or how I can send a copy of this notice to eBay?

Do you have any other specific information about eBay and their location? My search for them will be more accurate.

I'm not quite sure, like in the earlier forums, I saw someone said that they would send a copy to eBay and make sure how the letter got to them. But when I got onto eBay.com, there is no contact information, so I just wanted to find a way to contact eBay and find out why I owe them money and did they really forward this case to that Bureau of Collection Recovery. This is a total shock for me because I've only went to eBay.com for like 2-3 times, I never knew that eBay needs to create an account, I just don't know anything about eBay and suddenly, they tell me that I owe them money. It's just crazy!

I also recently received a letter re: a $40.10 debt to e-bay. I have NEVER done business with e-bay: used BCRs instructions to pay e-bay on-line, does'nt work cuz I don't have an e-bay acct or password. Am listing this as a total scam, hope that the inventors of this are kidnapped by aliens!!!!!

I'm so glad to see all of these people had a problem also. I received a letter claiming I owed At&t Wireless money. I NEVER had an account with At&T Wireless. I now have an attorney on this case.

my dad got a letter from the "bureau of collection recovery", saying we owed cingular, and if we didn't send them a letter disputing the bill within 30 days, they would consider it valid.

we have never recieved communication from cingular themselves regarding this debt. my dad freaked out and gave it to me to deal with.

i immediately got the feeling that something wasn't right. they have called here several times and harassed my parents, and communication by phone has been almost impossible because we couldn't understand their foreign accents.

the letter is dated 8/16, dad handed me the letter on 9/13 (gee, thanks dad). so theres only 3 more days until they "consider the debt valid".

why i think this is a scam:
1. no real letterhead or official stationery
2. immediate demand of payment
3. 30 days until we consider the debt "valid" seems a bit odd
4. no itemization of the charges
5. no official cingular logos
6. no contact information for cingular
7. i doubt a huge company like cingular would need a tiny company in MN to collect their bills
8. harassing phone calls
9. when we do talk to them on the phone, we can't understand their foreign accents
10. no communication from cingular about this
11. i looked up the business online and found at least three different phone numbers different from the ones in the letter
12. also while looking online i discovered that the business was started on 3/3/05. a business that young is a bit suspicious.

i am going to send them a *polite* letter disputing this debt, as well as contact the BBB.

i found this information from this website:
azbanking.gov/Lists/CA_List.HTML

home office #0907015

Started:03/03/2005
Expires:01/31/2006

Bureau of Collection Recovery, Inc.
7575 Corporate Way
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
(952) 934-7777

i am also going to contact cingular and ask them how they normally handle debt collection.

Balance: $199
Date Updated: 02/2004
Original Balance: $338
Original Creditor: CINGULAR WIRELESS CHICAGO
Past Due: >$19<
Pay Status: >Collection Account<
Account Type: Open Account
Responsibility: Individual Account
Loan Type: Open Account
Remark: >Placed for collection<
Date placed for collection: [ 01/2004]
Estimated date that this item will be removed: 12/2010

I owe cingular NOTHING!

MARISSA,

If your creditor has reported your account wrongly, you can contact the credit bureau and submit all the documents of your payments to them. Then the bureau will investigate and they will rectify the incorrect entries if any.

Some errors might occur on the part of credit bureau also. Few members of this forum have found some discrepancies in their credit report and it seems that the bureau has mistaken with the entries. In that case, you have to contact credit bureau too, to fix it up. Check the discussion here ???
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/reliable-creditscore.html

For any more information, feel free to ask in the forum.

Bryan

I too recieved a collection letter from this people for an AT&T account I never had. They are rude on the telephone and ask for SSN to verify you owe them. DUHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Section 809 of Fair Debt Collection Act will take care of these people. Tie them up in paperwork. If you never had an account demand a copy of your contract. Contact your state Bureau of Consumer Protection with a copy of there letter and your write dispute. This will let them know you mean business.

i think most of you out there r looking for an excuse not to pay your bills, any excuse, or any way to place a blame on anyone but yourselves for being irresponsible.
read your contracts, and remember what you agree to
get things in writing and remember a bill is a bill
and a service is a service, arm yourselves with knowledge and do not run from your bills, face them head on and commit to a positive resolution. most every one is a good person in this world. don't ruin your name and credit. be smart and make wise decisions
and please do not pawn your debt on others. own up and
do what is right.

First off please note that this is just a job...only a job. I work at BCR in MN, maybe I can give a little insight.

I won't excuse a co-workers rudeness, but please understand that we deal with rude, hateful, dishonest people all day. I am forever cussed at, insulted and lied to. Again, while this does not excuse rudeness, perhaps it will help you understand how our day typically goes.. Another note is that collections is NOT customer service. I myself try to keep calm and polite at all times, if you are polite with me then there is no need for me to be rude to you, Im a normal person just like anyone else out there.

I'd like to adress the points posted by InertiacticESP:

1. no real letterhead or official stationery
---i have not myself seen the letterhead so im no help here..the letters are sent out by an outside vendor
2. immediate demand of payment
---this is collections, the full balnce is due. this is typical of collections..by the time the debt has arrived in our office the creditor has attempted to to collect the debt in good faith for generally about 3 months.
3. 30 days until we consider the debt "valid" seems a bit odd
---this is the law..it gives a debtor an amount of time to send in a dispute..its for your own protection. you can still dispute the debt after that time but if the matter ever goes to court it looks better if you complied with the law. the collection company also has more leeway in their collection efforts if they havent recieved a dispute in that 30 day window
4. no itemization of the charges
---our company is not provided with this info right off the bat. in all honesty, when you have an account in collections you typically know exactly what it is for. but according to the law we must provide you one at your written request. it doesnt really help matters that they dont provide us with this but there it is.
5. no official cingular logos
---again we have a letter vendor that does this, and i dont think that in collections that it is common to have sumthing like this on the letters, this point is moot.
6. no contact information for cingular
---while i guess it wuld be helpful to provide this for you, i guess all i can say is its not our responsibilty...you have a creditor and u dont have contact info for them?
7. i doubt a huge company like cingular would need a tiny company in MN to collect their bills
---they have several collection companies working for them, our company small (about 100 collectors) but we have do well against our competition or cing wouldnt hire us.
8. harassing phone calls
---this the the common method of collection..the phone call part, not the harrassment part. a collection agency will typically call you to the extent that the law will allow in "an attempt to collect a debt".
it may be a bit misused, but is allowed by the law, with certain restrictions.
9. when we do talk to them on the phone, we can't understand their foreign accents
---this doesnt have anything to do with anything. you think you can tell the judge "hey i didnt pay the bill because i couldnt understand thier accents?
we outsource. we have a call center full of operaters in india. i guess its just cheaper for the company.
i think this is also a common practice for call centers.
10. no communication from cingular about this
---cing doesnt have to tell your father the debt is in collections, by the time it is they have made many attempts to get him to pay. feel free to contact cing if you want. this always seems like a lame excuse to me, if you want to verify that the collection agency has been hired and you are serious about getting to the bottom of the matter, you'll contact the creditor and make sure everything is correct.
11. i looked up the business online and found at least three different phone numbers different from the ones in the letter
---??? who cares. a business cannot have more than one phone number? to answer this, we have more than one department here, they all have thier own 800 number. there is also an 800 to reach the receptionist. seems to me you are just reaching.
12. also while looking online i discovered that the business was started on 3/3/05. a business that young is a bit suspicious.
---this i cannot explain, but there must be erronous info or you are reading it incorrectly, i myself have worked at BCR since Nov 2003. I know many people that have worked here much longer.

you people who whine and complain on the phone make me sick. we call you every day to help you get back on the right track. pay your bill. it is as simple as that!
you don't like the phone calls...quit paying the phone
bill or do not answer the phone. use some common sense
people. you got a debt, pay it is the easiest thing to do. yes, we ALL have hardships, but does it make sense
to whine and cry on the phone???
i wish everyone that i called and asked them to pay their bill would be reasonable and humble.
don't block out the idea of actually paying the debt.
use some simple math and work out a payment.
it really isn't that hard. pay the bill or do not
pick up your phone.

[color=Red]****Adult term removed - Jason[/color]

I Hate Whining Debtors and others:

Don't you People understand that if I had the money right now, then I wouldn't owe anything. If I had the money, I would have paid it. People fall on hard times, and I hate to say it, but maybe if it happens to you, you will understand.

I have even tried to work out payment arrangements, the common answer is, "we don't make payment arrangements, you need to pay the balance in full". Why won't they take what money I am offering? Isn't some better than none?

As for this MN company, they sound like a total fraud, I would suggest reporting them to the police.

to slover:

Payments are not always what the creditor will allow the collection agency to accept. They have already tried to get you to pay for the account. They have offered you payment arrangements. Why would they hire an outside company if they could get the money from you themselves.

Typically a collector won't even get that far into the conversation. A lot of debtors will just start off slinging insults or hang up or refuse to pay.
They wont take out the time to explain their situation. I wont say all collectors will listen, but you'd be suprised how far simple polite tones will get you.

As for how you feel about my company, I could really care less. You can look into it or not. I think that yelling out "total fruad" and "...to the police" must be easy for you. Maybe throwing out the word "police" makes you feel a bit more empowered than you normally would in this situation...whatever makes you happy. And after they tell you that you are wasting their time perhaps you should take the rest of your day looking for a second job; or dare I say it, a first.

of course we all fall on hard times. who in this world does not? the key to this situation is not to excuse
your own behavior of not paying. it is so very easy for me to throw away collection letters than it is to open and call them and have them demand payment in full. it is so easy for me to say i am on hard times and can not afford to pay my bill. but take a step back and think...you took the time to gain the creditors trust. you took the time to open the account. you took the time to use the service.
i of all people am in no place to judge my fellow man
it's just that all of the excuses and blame i feel
have no place to be discussed when we call about
a bill in collections. also, if you feel we are a
fraud company and feel someone needs to call the police.....i say be my guest.
it's just another excuse and stall tactic to avoid
the real issue...the real reason we call...
think about it. marinate on that quote you posted
who should be claiming fraud? who should be calling the police? you're the one who isn't paying your
bills.

Once again I say, if I had the money I would. Some is better than none.
My bills have not gotten to collection agencies. I am trying to work it out with the companies themselves.
You can think what you want about me and anyone else in these forums, but we know the truth about ourselves.
We come to these forums to talk to others in our own situations, to people who understand. It seems to me that you only come to try to make us all feel worse. So why don't you go live your debt free life and leave us alone.

I agree with all of you. I personally had the worst experience with them. For 3 months they called my home number at least 4 times a day every day, and I don't even owe them any money! Everyone there was very rude and unprofessional. They just kept yelling at you over the phone, and never gave you a chance to talk. And when I called them back based on the number shown on my caller ID to request that they stop calling me, they refused to tell me the name of their company, and hung up on me several times. In my opinion they are definitely fraudulent, and stupid. I complained to the MN Attorney General's Office but got no results. I believe a civil class action against the company is warranted to stop the illegal behaviors and to compensate our mentional distress and financial loss.

Let's talk frusterated, I have over 10 years collections experiance, and I was hired at BCR as a team lead for $13.00 an hour (far below with my experience.) I offered to help out in a different department, a week later they said they don't pay people in the new department like they do collectors, needless to say. I pay was dropped from 13.00 to 9.50. Which lead to me telling them that I was going to look elsewhere. They then said, don't go, we have a manager position open for you....for $10.00 an hour, but if 50% of your team makes goal you will get a $500.00 bonus.....Wrong, never saw it. I left. I have refused to work for any 3rd party agaeny ever again. I was at BCR for and 10 months, I have never seen so many peiople get fired in my life. Imagine you are new to this feild, you get out of you week long bogas training, you're on the floor for 2 days, and they say, "ya know it's not wworking out. It happened all the time. Heck I will even float a couple more examples. I was making copies there when I was a lead. One of the "hire ups" asked me "what are you doing?" Now everyone knows me as the funny one, so I replied, Vacumming. The responce was "do you want to keep your job?" Then I was told to get back on the phone and only managers can make copies. Here's one more,we had set breaks, now I really don't have a problen with that I guess, but break was at 9:45 and it was 9:30, I had to use the bathroom, same "higher up" asked, where are you going?" I said to the Bathroom, the reply, "it's 15 min till break. My reaply to that was simple, "I'm 31." For some of you who may think that a collector holds a Master degree, you are wrong. Who seeks a career as a debt collector? In a industry where deception, craftiness, and deceit are rampant, you might imagine most honest people would seek work elsewhere. And you're right. My experience says the average debt collector is male, has a large ego, bounces from job to job, suffers low self-esteem and enjoys using the telephone as an instrument of empowerment. You' shouldn't be surprised to find most of them have great debt problems themselves. Now I know some of you think...hey you were doing this for 10 years. I was but I started at Target Financial, DHOC as it was known back then. I went to college and so on. I wanted to try something a little more challenging and didn't know too much on 3 party agencies, one bad experiance after another, I somewhat turned into the description above. and got to know the politics of the collection agencies. This is a great web site to give you a heck of a little more informaton, and as well as you can put BCR on the list for one of the worst collection agencies in america.

Thanks for your time

Look, some people have valid reasons to complain about collection calls slover238. but I have read your postings. In your post you have not made a legitament complaint. The only complaint that i see is, you complaining about you. Some collection agencies are bad, but you are mad because you are getting calls. If a collection place does you wrong then its valid, if things happn to you, then, put it on a different post

I too have been getting phone calls regarding an AT&T wireless account that I no longer have. I have told these people that I have a statement to prove that my account has a zero balance and have even sent them a copy of it and they still call. Last night someone called and asked for my address. I would not give them my address until he told me what the call was in regards to. He then told me that it was regarding a personal matter and still would not tell me for what. I hung up. Until I receive something in the mail explaining why I supposedly owe money, I'm not paying them a dime. It has to be a scam!

You might want to check out some of that information before you type any errors, well I'm sure just another typical debtor that needs to blame someone else.

[color=Red]****Adult term removed - Jason[/color]

I've come across this thread by accident, and I've been thoroughly entertained. Hey David Schwimmer, I've especially enjoyed your posts. I use to work there up until 3 years ago. I've put in a fair amount of time there too (not saying how much, but I do have a BCR logo pullover windbreaker). Depending on where you were stationed it used to be a very profitable place to work. Of course every time I seem to fall into a group that's like that either the client pulled the business or I was transfer else where (much like how you were).

Anyway its sounds like a lot of people here complain simply about getting collection calls. I can tell you exactly how these calls go. They know a call is from a collection agency, yet they won't ID themselves. Then they asked a million questions, which the collector will only answer so many (being very nonspecific to prevent 3rd party disclosure). The person who answers the phone, wither it's the debtor or just a family member, will be evasive themselves and become extremely difficult and rude. If it is the debtor and they finally ID themselves the tone is set and they start yelling, cursing, and calling the collector names. The collector precipitates, then the debtor throws out one last belligerent insult and hangs up.

Word of advice: Don't expect to get anywhere yelling and screaming, and more often than not if act professional and use a professional tonality in your voice the collector will reciprocate that (although I admit that are collectors out there where that will never be the case). And if you really don't want calls send or fax them a cease and desist letter. Put it attention to one of there VPs David Winters. He's been with that company for over 10 years.

Now with those who are getting EBay letters that sounds like shoddy record keeping by EBay. Or they never verified the info in the first place, so whoever originally typed it in was making it up. How can you hold BCR accountable for accounts EBay places with them? It's obviously EBay's fault. You can find EBay's contact info in this thread:
fatwallet.com/t/24/370363/
Courtesy of fatwallet.com, a great website.

And let me add something for those who say they never had AT&T wireless accounts (and I'm sure this goes for Cingular too). When I worked there we received a huge drop of business from AT&T Wireless, only they didn't tell us that drop was from a rinky dink cell phone company they bought out called L.A. cellular. I eventually figured it out from the debtors I called. So if you are getting a letter and you never opened an account with AT&T then it's probably a company they bought out. I know there are exceptions, but from my extensive cell phone collection experience the debtor usually knows that it's probably a cell phone company they used to have service with that was bought out, or they know it's for the phone they cosigned for their cousin, nephew, friend, or whoever. They know who lives at the billing address. Almost always with the right kind of probing the truth will come out. The rare exceptions usually do not hesitate in filing a police report (fraud report) to protect themselves.

Just a couple more final thoughts. Like it are not, the more irritating and rude you are with a third party, especially a relative who lives elsewhere or a neighbor (you can only legally do this if you don't have a good contact #), the more likely the call will be returned and therefore more likely the debt will get paid. Its just human nature. Also if you think BCR is bad, just wait till you (if ever) get a call from Academy Collections!!! You'll be yearning for the "customer service style" approach of BCR!

Link made inactive as per forum rules-Vikas

To ex BCR bill collector,

You might have BCR logo pullover windbreaker, but some letters send BCR does not contain your company logo even and letters are not printed on company letter-head, as complained by ???InertiacticESP'.

Also people had problem in understanding your foreign accent. Few instances show that your company did not respond properly.

It is right that you are not accountable for the mistake done by the original creditor. But if the same problem is being reported for quite a long time, why don't you discuss it with your management and try to fix the problem?

Moreover, if you are a lawful debt collector then how can you continue collecting bills despite of knowing that the accounts are wrongly placed with you? No one is going to entertain your calls if he does not owe. I request your attention Mr. David Winter to solve this problem.

Thanks to this site.

regarding a cingular bill bcr will not give me their address so I can send the money in the mail. nor will they send me any info on what I owe them in the mail Are the for real

I have to send a check to BCR for an account that I had with AT&T but I don't know the address.
Is it possible to get it and any phone number to check if this is the same office?

Carla GG,

Their contact address is listed here, please check it-

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/collectionrecovery.html

You can also check for their contact details with bbb.org

I am a manager at the largest collection agency (NOT BCR)in the USA. The collection practices used by BCR are in voilation if the FDPCA laws. BCR has contacted me after 9pm at night, I called them and spoke to someone in there office after being on hold for 45 mins, then right after i hung up with them , another rep from there office called me regarding this account with AT&T and you can not understand the reps when they do call you. I have asked the reps if they had training on fdcpa and 2 of them stated they had never heard of FDCPA. I have disputed my account with AT&T for a year do to incorrect billing errors on ther side but can not seem to get them to fix this either. I have sent a cease and desist letter to BCR in hopes that they will violate this so i can turn the case over to an attorney to stop the harassment of 5-10 calls per day on my phone. And I had the same problem when I asked for there address they refused to give it to me too. I am very glad I do not work for them...

i am a day sleeper that has a real job to go to at night. you and your company persist in herrasing me and refuse to give any information so that i can send a cease and desist letter so here it is cease and desist or i will let my lawyer in on your shady practice and have you dealt with. Thank you and dont ever call me again. The person you are looking for no longer lives here. Need i say more

BCR's website (http://www.bureauofcollection.com/) has an online payment function which redirects you to (https://secure.universalsystems.net/payments/)

Neither domain name has a valid SSL certificate. That means your personal information will be broadcast loud and clear to any would-be hackers looking for a meal-ticket, ie, your credit card #, your personal identity, etc. If you don't believe me, please see these links to the WHOIS information as well:

(http://www.whois.sc/bureauofcollection.com)
(http://www.whois.sc/universalsystems.net)

Read the first few lines of both pages, you will notice this: "SSL Cert: No valid SSL on this Host, Get Secure"

Hope this helps. :)

Guest,

Send them cease and desist letter explaining the fact. Send it CMRRR. If they do not stop calling you after receiving the letter, file your complaint with FTC, BBB.

Hope this helps.

I have to agree that this company does not seem like an honest outfit. In a call today, for someone I don't know and who has not had this phone number for at least several years, if ever, they seemed very shady and unprofessional.

Two representatives were on the phone in succession, and they did not want to provide their names, the name of the company, the address, or any other information. They did eventually say that it was a call to collect a debt with AT&T Wireless, even though I am not the person they are trying to reach. (Isn't that illegal? I did nothing to suggest or imply I was the person they were supposedly calling.) They kept demanding my name (as if it's any of their business) and I have little doubt they would have asked more intrusive questions, and added me to their fake-billing schemes, had I given them any personal information. They were incredibly rude also, apparently believing they have a right to call complete strangers and demand their names. Sorry, if you call me, you don't get to quiz me. Apparently these people were brought up in a barn and never learned proper phone manners.

InnocentBystander,

The same story is being repeated again. I'm really very sorry to know your problem. How can they do this type of mistakes? Moreover they neglect what people say to them.

Send them a C&D letter, CMRRR. State clearly that you are not the person they are looking for, so they stop all kind of communication with you.

They should honor your request. If you find any breach of this, you can report against them with FTC, BBB and so on.

Go through this entire thread. Read what Ex BCR Collector has said here. It might help you also.

Stanley,

"How can they do this type of mistakes? Moreover they neglect what people say to them." You've got me. If they were really trying to reach people about debts they thought were legitimate, surely they wouldn't want to spend time and money bothering unrelated strangers. This isn't the first time I've gotten a wrong-number call from a debt collector, but it is the first time I've found their behavior so odd and downright suspicious that I was moved to look up and post about the company in question.

I did read ex BCR bill collector's post. Unfortunately his suggestions mostly seem based on an assumption that the caller has the right number, and/or that the person reached is the right person and owes the money. I can see how a person from that industry would get jaded, and might need such assumptions to get through the day, but the resulting suggestions are not really applicable for me. Probably useful to others though.

In my case, I don't even know the person BCR was trying to reach. I had already told them there was no one by that name here, and that they had a wrong number, and asked them nicely to please not call again since I can't help them. They called again anyway. At this point, it was clear that being polite and giving them what information I had did no good. So I took a different approach with their last call.

It used to be that when I got these, I would politely state that there was no "Bob Smith" here, and they had called the wrong number. I got endless repeat calls from the same companies. Finally one evening I decided to stay on the phone with one of the worst offenders and return some of the irritation they'd given me -- with faultless politeness of course. That worked better than being "nice" ever did -- they were furious by the time they hung up, and abruptly stopped calling, after weeks of daily calls. I've concluded that, after the first call, briefly telling these people it's a wrong number only encourages them. I now try to keep repeat offenders on the phone as long as possible, and of course I never give them any information about myself. Most resist giving out even their company's name and address -- you'd be surprised how many minutes that question alone can use up. The ones who stay on the phone the longest invariably start huffing and puffing that I'm "rude" for not giving out my personal information to whatever strangers happen to call and demand it. Lemons to lemonade: I get entertained, and they don't call back.

I did this with BCR, and I doubt I'll hear from them again.

So, to the bill collectors who are convinced that any person who won't identify themselves is secretly the person you're looking for, or is covering for them -- nope, sorry, but keep that delusion if you like. You'll get one polite statement from me that there is no Bob Smith here, then I won't help you anymore. If you call again, knowing you're calling an innocent bystander, well... given what I've read about your industry I figure I'm doing a good deed by wasting as much of your time as possible. If you're raging at me for not following your script, that's at least a few innocent victims of identity theft, billing errors, or name mixups you're not bothering. And I've got another great story for my friends. Thanks!

Ok, I know that I owe an old bill with Cingular. Problem is, Cingular gave me 30 days to decide if I wanted a cell phone I was interested in. After two weeks it was quite clear that I could not us this phone in my rural area. I contacted them to cancel the order (after 30 days I would be responsible for thier contract fees of over 200.00). I thought this was completely cancelled and sent the phone back. Next thing you know they say they didn't get the phone until 33 days from the date the service started. They stick me with the bill.Next thing I know this BCR is calling my home multiple times a week sometimes two times a day. I send them a letter and also send the same one with detail on the debt they are attemtping to collect to Cingular. No one bothered to look into this as it clearly was an error from Cingulars receiving department. They obviously didn't report receiveing the phone back in a timely manner. No one has even tried to help me to resolve this. They are RIGHT and that's it. BCR just gets these debts and harrasses until someone changes their number of finally pays. I have begged both of these companies to look into this. Nothing has been done. Obviously they sees dollar signs in thier future and can care less what they do to hard working people who are honest and debt free. I have never had a collections issue in my 41 years! I have 4 teenagers who I have to support and these people just want money and don't seem to care that it isn't even owed!
I may have been off cue but I had to vent about this. BEWARE! When you think you are doing right in life, and you are responsible, you can still be scammed.

This issue should be brought under attention of Attorney General at this stage. This company does not seem to be cooperative to consumers. What if someone wish to cancel the contract on the 30th day? It is quite sure that the papers will not be returned within 30 days. In that case the consumer pays for the service that he/she never received! This cannot be allowed.

Please contact Consumer Protection Office or FTC and see what they recommend at this stage. Keep us posted.

I'm an attorney in Virginia, and got one of those bogus AT&T Wireless bills for a cellphone I never had. I complained about it, but eventually decided I'd go ahead and send AT&T the $49 - easier than a letter writing campaign.

The long and short of it is BCR began calling, and sent a demand letter. I sent them a denial of claim and demand for verification pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which BCR ignored. I logged the calls and did "call trace" (*57 or 1157) on most of the calls.

After a few months of that, I filed suit against BCR in a Va. Circuit Court for around $275,000.00 - the statutory damages is up to $1,000 per violation of the fdcpa (15 U.S.C. section 1692 et seq.). Even though the FDCPA is a federal statute, you can file suit in any "court of competent jurisdiction".

I'd like to find out more from people familiar with BCR and their affiliates, about their business practices, officers, etc., particularly from former employees willing to sign an affidavit or be deposed (wherever you live, of course). I can't force anyone outside of Va. to testify, but I'd like to get as much information as I can.

As a general BTW, note that for legal purposes, calling someone on the telephone is just words in the air unless the call is recorded under specially controlled circumstances with the consent of all concerned (and that's too hard for most folks). Recording a call without the other person's consent is a felony in a half a dozen or more states (remember Linda Tripp in Maryland?). So write letters. You have 30 days to tell the debt collector you deny the debt and demand verification. I'll send anyone a free copy of my standard letter by email. If you send a demand for verification letter, they're supposed to stop calling (BCR obviously ignores this law), and to take no further action to collect unless and until they send you the documentation that verifies (1) that there is a valid debt and (2) that you're the debtor.

Email deleted as per forum rules-Vikas

virginia, as an attorney woud you be interested in spearheading class action suits against bad collectiona gencies and payday lenders if so reply here or pm me

Wow, and here I thought I was the only one in this boat. AT&T improperly billed me after they failed to set up my account correctly, giving me only half of the monthly "anytime" minutes I signed up for. I disputed this with AT&T, but they refused to acknowledge or correct their error, a fact that cost me overage charges, which I refused to pay. I wrote two different multi-page letters, explaining in painful detail and timelines my position in this matter. In both instances, I never got a response. Believing I had been wrongly treated, I filed a complaint with the BBB in the state of Washington and I *finally* got a response from them. But again, they failed to correct their error. This issue continued through the Cingular aquisition of AT&T wireless for well over a year, after which I refused to pay them any more and switched phone companies. My argument then -- as well as now -- is that I give them plenty of time and opportunity to correct this situation and my attempts were met with nothing but failure on their part.

Now I'm getting numerous calls with forged caller ID ranging from 952-674-4770 through 952-674-4780, which I finally tracked down to BCR. When I try to dial these numbers, I get a recording stating that the number has been disconnected or is no longer in service. I'm relatively sure that providing false caller ID is against FCC rules, but in reading the prior posts in this thread, I'm guessing that following the rules in the least of their concerns.

I'm no attorney, but I plan to explore more of what "Virginia Legal Defense" had to say and find out what my rights are.

First, let me point out that I'm licensed only in Virginia and admitted to practice in the Federal Courts in Va. I haven't ever done class action suits, although this is certainly a good opportunity for one, but they're highly technical and I generally represent defendants, not plaintiffs. If anyone is sued in a court in Virginia over one of these things, I could certainly represent you there or find someone who will.

I see that my email address has been deleted from the msg I sent earlier, so I'll post the text of the demand for verification letter here, with some loss of formatting (highlight the entire thing, press CTRL-C to copy, open Windows Notepad, Wordpad or your word processor with a new document window and press Shift-Insert to paste the text. Edit appropriately to meet your needs.)
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Virginia Legal Defense,

Thanks for the help. Why don't you signup this forum? You can have direct interaction with members through PM service then. We need your suggestion and support in future too. Thanks once again :D